Eye Candy
by shulesaddict77
Summary: He'd always known that women and men enjoyed almost the exact same things. COMPLETE


**This is a completely silly, little one-shot. It came to me while I was watching the latest episode of '**_Arrow_**'. It's official now. I'm obsessed with Nick and Jess. I have story ideas at the strangest times and places. :-)**

**Everyone who watches '**_Arrow_**' knows exactly about which scene Nick and Jess are talking. For those of you who don't watch it … go to youtube dot com and copy/paste the following vid address. **

**/watch?v=6xLVS5iDFEM **

**The scene starts around 2:30. :-)**

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**Eye Candy**

"Hey, Jess." Nick mumbled as he passed her on his way to the kitchen to get a much needed cup of coffee.

It was three o'clock in the afternoon and he just woke up. Rubbing his hand tiredly over his face, he poured himself a cup of coffee, inhaling deeply the scent before he took a gulp, welcoming the caffeine that rushed through his system. Leaning with his forearms on the kitchen counter he wrapped his hands around the mug and looked over to Jess, just now realizing that she hadn't said anything back when he'd greeted her a few moments ago.

His mouth twitched up with a smirk as he saw her sitting on the couch, completely engrossed in whatever program she was watching, a bowl of ice-cream on her knees, ice-cream dripping down from the spoon she'd apparently forgotten to bring to her mouth, her eyes wide open and her mouth slightly agape. Normally she was only that mesmerized by 'The Walking Dead' but as his gaze wandered to the TV he could see that she wasn't watching zombies get beheaded or shot.

Her slack-jawed expression was due to the fact that a shirtless man was swinging himself up on a bar, shifting his weight completely on his outstretched arms, every muscle in his biceps and shoulders was visible and you could clearly see the defined muscles of his six-pack.

"Jess?" Nick tried to get her attention and without taking her eyes from the screen she only muttered. "Huh?"

"Jess?" But this time she didn't even make any sound and he walked slowly towards the couch, crouching down behind her without her even noticing that he was there.

Leaning forward he placed his mouth directly beside her ear and said quietly. "Go ahead. Do it."

"Garg!" Jess almost threw the bowl onto the floor as she flinched and she swirled her head around, hissing accusingly. "Nick, don't sneak up on me! And what do you mean with 'Do it'?"

"Pause it." Nick said, waving with his hand towards the screen.

"Why should I pause it?" Jess asked, furrowing her brows in confusion.

Nick reached for the remote and pressed the rewind button until he found the scene before he pressed the pause button, giving her a knowing look. "Because I know you want nothing more than to stare at this for a little while longer."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jess said quietly, averting her gaze to the bowl in her hands, a slight blush rising up in her cheeks.

"You can't deny it, Jess." Nick chuckled. "You didn't even react when I said your name."

"I was listening to what they were saying. I didn't pay much attention to what he was doing." Jess muttered, swirling the spoon through the ice-cream.

"Yeah, right! You know what's funny?" Nick cocked an eyebrow and waited until Jess looked up at him. "Just last week you told me that today's television shows put way too much emphasis on the perfect body. You told me that it's no surprise that so many women are obsessed with counting calories when almost every woman on television has a perfect body."

"I might have said that." Jess shrugged her shoulders before she added. "But I don't see your point?"

"My point?" Nick asked incredulously, walking around the couch to stand directly beside her, pointing with his finger at the screen. "What would you call _that_?"

"Training!" Jess stated firmly, locking eyes with him, a stubborn look on her face.

"Training?" Nick scoffed. "Without a shirt?"

"Maybe he didn't want to get it all sweaty." Jess argued.

"Or maybe it's a cheap move of the network?" Nick retaliated.

"How so?"

"Jess, you were drooling!"

"I wasn't!"

"Yes, you were. You are gonna tune in the next week, hoping that he is gonna take off his shirt again."

"I'm not."

"Of course you will." Nick shook his head slightly. "I actually thought you didn't like the show."

"It's actually pretty good. He is kind of a Robin Hood-esque vigilante. You know, take it from the rich, give it to the poor. Well, he is not really stealing money but he is killing a lot of bad guys and this, Mr. Miller ..." Jess pointed towards the screen. "IS TRAINING! He needs to stay fit to fight the evil that has befallen his city."

"Okay, I'll buy it." Nick stepped forward and stood in front of her, blocking her view. "So you don't actually enjoy it because of his body?"

"Nope."

"So what eye color does he have?"

"That's a weird question."

"Ha, you don't know it."

"Of course I do. It's blue. But in a certain light they look green. Like the hood he is always wearing so that no one recognizes him though I have absolutely no clue why you wouldn't recognize him. It's like with Superman. I never understood how Lois didn't recognize him only because he was wearing glasses while being Clark Kent. That's kind of silly. I would totally recognize you if _you_ were wearing glasses."

Nick looked completely stunned, his brows furrowed as he listened to her going off on a tangent. How the hell did they get from shirtless men to Clark Kent?

"I'm not wearing glasses."

"Yeah, but if you would be some kind of a superhero and needed a disguise … I would always recognize you, no matter what you'd choose as a disguise." Jess told him confidently.

Somehow her statement made his stomach clench and he changed the subject quickly, stepping back into safe territory. "So you agree with me that women aren't immune to good-looking men?"

"Well, who am I to not appreciate the work they put into shaping their bodies? And don't tell me that you guys are any different."

"What are you talking about?"

"About the last time you all shushed me while you were watching a movie." Jess explained. "You were completely hypnotized. But no, you didn't shush me while they were talking, you shushed me while _she_ was fighting her way through a bunch of bad guys, wearing this ridiculous tight costume."

"Lara Croft is not wearing a costume, Jess." Nick stated, slightly exasperated.

"So they didn't press Angelina into these clothes so that every single man would only see her behind and her enormous ..." Jess paused briefly, apparently searching for the right word before she continued. " ... grapefruits?"

"Grapefruits?" Nick asked with a chuckle. "Don't tell me you can't say boobs either."

"Of course I can say boobs." Jess replied dryly. "Why shouldn't I be able to say boobs?"

"That's coming from the woman who couldn't say penis."

"I can say penis. See, PENIS!"

"But only because you practiced." Nick shot back.

"Yeah, but that's not the topic of this conversation. You can't blame us. Looking at shirtless men with a great body is like eating chocolate. They are both releasing endorphins into your system. It's just another form of candy. There is a reason why it's called eye candy."

"But look at that. No way these are real! This has to be fake."

"And Angelina's boobs aren't?" Jess replied, making him grin.

"Probably." Nick said truthfully because he had to admit they were probably fake.

"Nicholas?" Jess's voice had turned soft and Nick shot her a crooked grin. "Yes, Jessica?"

"I admit he is nice to look at but ..." She trailed off, putting the bowl with ice-cream on the couch table, fidgeting with her hands.

"What?" Nick asked, curious why she seemed to be slightly nervous.

"Don't we fall in love with all those little imperfections of a person?" Jess asked quietly, returning her eyes to his. "Those things that are driving you crazy but are also the reason you love the other person?"

"You're right, Jess. No one is perfect. You just have to find the one person who is perfect for _you_. The one person who complements you." Nick said softly and suddenly the mood shifted completely and they stared each other in the eyes for a few seconds, saying more with their eyes than they would ever say out loud. But both were thinking the same thing.

_What if I already found the perfect one? The one who complements me?_

But like always one of them averted their gaze, breaking the tension before they would do something stupid. This time it was Nick who cleared his throat uncomfortably and let his gaze travel to the kitchen counter.

"I'm gonna head back to my room. Enjoy the rest of your episode!"

Jess watched him walk to his room and disappear behind the door before a soft sigh escaped her lips. She didn't know how long she could stay away from him. How long would they try to convince themselves that they had everything under control? Because they had absolutely nothing under control. She felt like they were both balancing on a high wire and one day one of them would fall. The question was ... would the other follow?

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**Okay, the end completely sneaked up on me. I didn't plan to end it on such a serious note. Well, it is what it is, right?**

**I'm currently working on the second chapter for 'Acting on the Attraction' but it looks like it's gonna be a long one so it'll still take me a while to finish it. I hope this one-shot could sweeten the wait a little bit! :-)**

**Please review!**


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